113: The Importance of Nourishing Yourself

Nourishing yourself is crucial for overall well-being and personal growth. This involves more than just healthy foods, it is about your mind, body, and spirit. This is making sure you take the time to increase your energy, improved mental clarity, and a more positive outlook on life. Today’s objective is for you to walk away with a thought of how to be more nourishing to yourself and why it is important. 

Topics:

• Nourishing your body through nutrition 
• Nourishing your body through movement 
• Nourishing your mind 

Call to action: Examine how you are nourishing your body. Are there any opportunities for you to enhance your mindfulness regarding what you consume each day?

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Transcript

Nourishing yourself is crucial for overall well-being and personal growth. This involves more than just healthy foods, it is about your mind, body, and spirit. This is making sure you take the time to increase your energy, improved mental clarity, and a more positive outlook on life. 

• Today’s objective is for you to walk away with a thought of how to be more nourishing to yourself and why it is important. 
• Topic 1: Nourishing your body through nutrition 
  • Nourishing your body happens through balanced diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. 
  • Key elements to a nourishing diet:
     
    • Eating a variety of foods -- this is taking from across the food groups to really getting your essential nutrients.
    • Focusing on prioritizing whole foods that are unprocessed.
    • Staying hydrated.
    • Limiting the unhealthy components of foods that are high in saturated fat, added sugars, salt, that can negatively impact your health. 
    • Specific foods you can look at including are: dark leafy greens, berries, fish, legumes, and nuts and seeds. Eating more fruits and vegetables you increase your vitamins, fiber and antioxidants which are good for your overall health.
    • Hydration, which is making sure you drink plenty of water throughout your day. Remember that you should increase your fluids when exercising or if the temperatures are warmer.
• Topic 2: Nourishing your body through movement 
  • Making sure that you engage in regular physical activity, that helps you in your physical vitality. Movement and nutrition are closely connected because your body needs fuel and building blocks to support physical activity and maintain its structures. Exploring how our bodies move to help us stay strong, flexible, and mobile for life is a part of ongoing research, called biomechanics. It shows that simple everyday movements—walking, standing, bending—can have a big impact on your long-term health and how well you move as you get older.
    
    
  • Brisk walks -- Stay active all throughout your week. Aim for 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week, through brisk walking. 
  • Yoga -- Yoga isn’t just about stretching—it’s a full mind-body practice that connects your movement, breath, and awareness. It works because it treats your body and mind as one, meets you where you are, and empowers. 
  • Other forms of exercise 
  • Nourishing your body isn’t just about what you eat—it also includes giving yourself adequate rest and sleep. You can prioritize rest by creating a calming bedtime routine and setting up a peaceful sleep environment, both of which can improve the quality of your sleep.
• Topic 3: Nourishing your mind 
  • On a mental and emotional level, nourishment involves engaging in activities that bring you joy and fulfillment. This could be reading a good book, practicing mindfulness meditation, or spending quality time with loved ones. It's about creating space in your life for relaxation and reflection, allowing you to recharge and reconnect with yourself.
  • Ultimately, nourishing yourself is about honoring your needs and committing to a lifestyle that supports your well-being. By doing so, you not only enhance your own life but also become better equipped to contribute positively to the lives of others.
  • Keeping a positive mindset can boost your results and help you feel better faster. Your physical and mental health are closely connected—what affects one often affects the other. As far as nutrition, start paying attention to how different foods affect you and make you feel – both as you eat them and afterwards. You can see differences in both physically and emotionally.
  • Most of your serotonin—a chemical that regulates sleep, appetite, mood, and even pain—is made in your gut, not your brain. That’s because your digestive system is lined with millions of nerve cells that do more than just help you digest food—they also influence your emotions. Even more, the billions of “good” bacteria in your gut, called your microbiome, play a huge role in this process. They protect your intestinal lining, fight off harmful bacteria, reduce inflammation, help your body absorb nutrients, and send signals straight to your brain. In other words, taking care of your gut is a big part of taking care of your mind.

• Call to action: Examine how you are nourishing your body. Are there any opportunities for you to enhance your mindfulness regarding what you consume each day?